On a clear autumn night in 1922, Nebraska farmer John Anderson stepped out of his house to investigate an unusual sound. The low hum grew louder as Anderson scanned the darkening sky. Suddenly, a large circular object descended, landing in the field next to his home.
Anderson froze, watching as a section of the craft’s exterior shifted to reveal an opening. An eight-foot-tall being emerged and took its first steps onto the field. The entity’s skin had a metallic sheen that seemed to ripple as it moved. Its head was elongated, with two large, glowing eyes but no other discernible facial features.
As the being turned toward him, Anderson felt an alien presence touch his mind. Gripped by fear, he recalled his religious upbringing and spoke the words, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Anderson then felt compelled to turn away from the entity.
At that moment, a second disc-shaped object appeared in the sky above Anderson. Unlike the eerie silence of the first craft, this one emitted what sounded like voices reciting Biblical verses. The effect on the tall being was immediate – it recoiled and quickly retreated toward its craft.
As the entity fled, Anderson noticed its footsteps left smoldering marks in the ground resembling hoofprints. It passed through a barbed wire fence, which glowed white-hot and separated where the being touched it. Within seconds, the entity had re-entered its craft, which then rose into the sky and vanished.
The second disc remained hovering above Anderson until the first had departed. It then emitted a bright pulse of light before also ascending and disappearing, leaving Anderson alone in the field.
Anderson approached the landing site, finding a circular area of flattened crops. The ground within the circle was still warm. A trail of smoldering hoofprints led away from the site to the damaged section of fence. The severed wire ends were smooth and rounded, radiating heat Anderson could feel from several feet away.
In the following days, Anderson reported his experience to neighbors, his pastor, and eventually some reporters who heard about the incident. While many were skeptical, those closest to Anderson noted a profound change in him after that night.
Over time, weather and farming gradually erased the physical evidence. The hoofprints eroded, the flattened crops were plowed under, and the fence was repaired. But Anderson’s account of his experience remained consistent for the rest of his life.
He never again encountered anything similar to what he saw that autumn night. However, Anderson remained vigilant, often watching the skies. He became known locally as someone who would listen without judgment to others describing their own unusual experiences.
The details of Anderson’s encounter spread through the community and beyond. While the core of his account stayed the same, retellings by others sometimes added or changed elements of the story. The incident became part of local lore, representing an enduring mystery for those who heard about it.
Decades later, Anderson’s 1922 experience remains a topic of discussion for those interested in unexplained phenomena. It has been included in books and articles examining historical reports of strange encounters. Researchers have noted both similarities and differences between Anderson’s account and other reported incidents from the early 20th century.
Some have attempted to find explanations for what Anderson might have witnessed, proposing various theories ranging from misidentified natural phenomena to psychological experiences. However, no definitive explanation has been widely accepted that accounts for all the elements of Anderson’s report.
The 1922 Nebraska incident stands as an early example of a close encounter report from the American Midwest. It occurred decades before “flying saucer” entered the public lexicon in 1947. The details of Anderson’s experience – the disc-shaped craft, the tall non-human entity, the physical trace evidence – would be echoed in many later reports of alleged encounters.
Anderson’s account includes several elements that became common in subsequent UFO encounter claims:
- The witness was alone in a rural area at night
- A disc-shaped craft landed nearby
- A humanoid entity emerged from the craft
- The witness felt a mental/psychic connection with the entity
- There were physical traces left behind (landing marks, damaged fence)
- The witness’s life was profoundly changed by the experience
However, Anderson’s encounter also had some unique aspects compared to many later reports:
- The appearance of a second, seemingly protective craft
- The recitation of Biblical verses
- The entity leaving behind hoofprints rather than footprints
- The dramatic severing of the barbed wire fence
Whether viewed as an early UFO encounter, a religious experience, or an unexplained event, the 1922 Nebraska incident captured imaginations and raised questions that remain relevant to modern investigations of unusual phenomena. Anderson’s unwavering account of that autumn night added a notable chapter to the chronicles of the unexplained in rural America.
The site of Anderson’s alleged encounter has never been conclusively identified. Some local researchers have attempted to pinpoint the location based on old property records and the few landmarks mentioned in Anderson’s account. However, the dramatic changes to the rural landscape over the past century have made confirmation difficult.
A few individuals have claimed to be descendants of John Anderson, though verifying these claims has proven challenging due to the common surname and incomplete genealogical records from the period. Some of these purported descendants have shared family stories about Anderson and how the encounter affected him, but these second-hand accounts naturally must be viewed with caution by researchers attempting to reconstruct the details of the 1922 incident.
The original news articles reporting Anderson’s experience have not been located in newspaper archives, leading some to question whether they ever existed or if the entire story is a later fabrication. However, the lack of contemporary documentation is not unusual for rural incidents from that era, particularly those deemed implausible by editors of the time.
Anderson’s encounter occurred during a period of significant social and technological change in rural America. The 1920s saw the increasing adoption of automobiles, radio, and other modern conveniences that were reshaping life on farms across the country. This backdrop of rapid change may have influenced how Anderson interpreted and reported his experience, as well as how it was received by his community.
The religious overtones in Anderson’s account – his immediate assumption that the entity was Satanic, the reported recitation of Bible verses – reflect the strong Christian influences prevalent in rural Nebraska at the time. This religious framing differs notably from the extraterrestrial interpretations that would become more common in later decades.
While Anderson’s encounter predates the rise of UFO culture by several decades, it has retroactively been incorporated into the broader UFO narrative by some researchers and enthusiasts. This later contextualization of the incident demonstrates how older stories of unusual events can be reinterpreted through new cultural lenses over time.
The 1922 Nebraska encounter remains a source of speculation and debate among those interested in historical cases of unexplained phenomena. Its mixture of familiar and unique elements continues to intrigue researchers attempting to understand the nature and evolution of such reports in American culture.
Source: David Pratt. UFOs: The Psychic Dimension
